This invention is directed to a machine for processing and securing parallel lead electronic circuit elements to a circuit substrate and in particular to automatically securing selected electronic circuit elements from a plurality of stored groups of electronic circuit elements to a printed circuit board.
Heretofore, machines specifically provided for applying parallel lead electronic circuit elements to printed circuit boards have been provided. One approach is to feed the printed circuit substrate section by section through a line of special purpose machines for individually applying each different type of electronic circuit elements to the circuit board. An alternative approach is the use of quasi-single use machine capable of mounting a single type or several different types of circuit elements in a particular order on the printed circuit board by moving the circuit board in first and second perpendicular coordinate directions each time an element is mounted to the circuit board. Nevertheless, such prior art machines require considerable expense in providing the extra equipment capable of handling the different types of electronic circuit elements, often cause considerable time loss when the type of circuit element processed by the machines is changed, and are less than reliable. Thus, such automated machinery for mounting parallel lead electronic circuit elements to printed circuit boards has not provided the same benefits which obtain to the automated application of coaxial type circuit elements to such printed circuit boards.